Technique Tuesday

I love when I play and it turns out to be pretty cute!!

I think this recess period was a SUCCESS...

I gathered one of those $1 frames from Michael's (wonder if it is still $1!)
I took an old soft scruffy brush and DecoArt Decou-Page Matte.  

I applied the Decou-Page VERY thick on the front of the frame and inside where the picture goes.

I wrinkled the tissues paper that I had into a very tight ball and opened it carefully.  Don't sweat if you tear it, because you can easily apply another piece on top of the tear...so, no stressing during this project!

I cut a hole in the center (over the picture opening) and a line to each of the four corners so I could push the tissue paper over that edge...

This is the back.  I carefully trimmed the tissue paper. I applied a generous amount of Decou-Page to the edge and a little onto the back and carefully stuck the paper into the Decou-Page.  Again, no problem with torn edges.  I had a few and I simply applied another piece of wrinkled tissue paper onto the tear and gently added more Decou-Page to adhere it.

When this was finished.  I applied another generous coat of Decou-Page on top of the tissue.  I used a pouncing motion to make certain the paper had made contact with the glue underneath and also to make certain all the cracks and crannies were covered with the Decou-Page...no worries, again, because Decou-Page dries clear!  I used my hair dryer to speed the drying and then went and ate my supper...Priorities!!

I turned the piece over and did the same to the front.  I made certain to cover all the tears on the edges and any that were on the front.

I don't want to brag, but this is a miracle for me~~I only got just a little bit of glue on my pointing finger of my left hand!  That never happens with me!  

While doing this, a GREAT thought hit (and to my knowledge, there was no natural disaster that happened when I had the idea...again, it is VERY dangerous when I start to think!)

I went to my little clear container of all things rusty (bells, stars and snowflakes, anyway) and pulled out a package that I had bought at Hobby Lobby several years ago.  

DISCLAIMER:  People, THIS is why CRAFT STORES stock Christmas items early!  We are NOT all a machine who can paint for our crafts shows ONLY at the appropriate time of year, deemed by you who sit in judgment of retail...heavy sigh...SO, you might want to excuse yourself from the rest of this project since I DID probably purchase these snowflakes during JULY!!!  I most certainly would not want to MAKE you look at a WINTER item when it is 100 outside...

OK...Sorry...it frustrates me, but I am now back to my cheerful self and will tell you that I cut the jute off of the snowflake ornament and covered the hole with DecoArt Dimensional effects,  Paste or Snow Tex would work fine.

I also cut a piece of Acrylic Paper to go in the center.

Can you tell where the hole was?

I stippled Titanium White onto the snowflake and also onto the frame to form a snowman/woman (hey, I am trying to be politically correct, here, folks...LOL)

I lightly stippled some Teal Green on the left side, under the head, under the belly and where the pieces of "coal buttons" will go~~this is an easy way to add a shadow and anyone can do it.  If it gets too dark, just go over it with some more of the original white..

I added the face, coal and a tree...I added the face to the Snowflake...I dry brushed Payne's Grey around the edges and then, why stop there, I added some of top of all the "bumps" of the texture.  I had every intention of stopping there and flecking White on the piece, but I stuck my hand into a tub of treasures that stays on a shelf and grabbed some Metallic Lustre...I thought I had grabbed the Gold, and when I opened the top, I thought it was such a pretty deep gold...when I looked it was Orange Flicker...I LOVE IT!!!

I love those serendipity moments~~even in ART!

And here you have 

Baby Snowflake's First Picture! 

You are more than welcome to create one for yourself!

If you do, share it with me...

I love to encourage...

I have not used any techniques that require many years of practice...HOWEVER, the more you practice, the better you get!

I want YOU to know, that IF you want to do something, 

YOU CAN do it!

There are so many ways to do something and we have all found ways that work for us, but hopefully, we all are still trying to learn.

And, by all means, USE what you HAVE!

I use DecoArt because I think they are the best that I have tried!

I LOVE that they are made in Kentucky, 

which is not too far from where I live.

That MATTERS to me.

I hope that I have inspired YOU to create SOMETHING today...It doesn't have to be paint.

Do WHAT YOU LOVE...

Take time to do it as a TREAT, because when you are HAPPY and lost in your passion, then YOU become a better person and THAT makes your corner of the world a better place!

I am simply blessed to create~charlotte♡

WOW!!  

Serendipity Sunday

I just sent a pattern that isn’t due until May 1, 2017, BUT I have been sitting on the couch making the line drawing for a pattern that is due is 14 days, and well, I decided to stop to do a blog post~~YEP, that is how I roll…

It probably would be very scary to take a stroll through my brain.

Actually, it isn’t quite as scary as it sounds, for this was one of those ideas that was just meant to be…and flexibility is a true gift!

Charcoal is sitting as close to me as possible and he seems to be THINKING!!

Do you ever wonder where IDEAS start?  How sometimes, they come so easily, while others leave you starring at a blank page day after day after day with no inspiration.

That BIG WHITE BLANK PAGE…

Heavy sigh…

Life is like that sometimes, and if you learn to “roll with it, baby”, then you save yourself a whole lot of frustration!

This week has been very productive and I give thanks for that.

I got an order, so I cut, sanded and boxed 55 pieces of wood to head to California on Monday.

Charlie and Chester said the wood was PACKED and READY to ship!

Have I ever told you how much I dislike to sand?  ROFL

It is one of those necessary evils of life.  To have a beautifully smooth finish, you have to sand.  I am sure you have seen pieces at craft shows that SKIPPED that process and PROBABLY you had a mean thought…

Mother’s words of “anything worth doing, is worth doing well” come to my mind when I have to do one of these NECESSARY evils…she would most often say this to me when I was washing dishes.  Water would be all over me and the sink, and here she came with her “frustrated wisdom” and I can still envision myself standing there, water everywhere, and thinking, “I AM doing the best I can.”  For the life of me, to this day, I CANNOT wash dishes without getting ME wet.  I don’t know why, but it is just a fact I can’t seem to overcome.

Then, I hear Daddy saying, “Dreading is 99% of the battle.”…Boy, have I been having lots of those 99% moments as of late, and for the life of me, again, I can’t seem to overcome, BUT I still keep trying.  One day, that ole self-motivating pep talk will kick in and will conquer my fears (?)…or whatever it is…

This week, I also finished 2 more patterns and had them accepted, so that makes 3 that are heading to the 2017 www.paintingezine.com with 5 more accepted for the remainder of 2016!  I am so blessed and humbled.

This week, also presented me with the opportunity to be a guinea pig for an artist who just finished her first ecourse…She allowed me to paint it to give some feedback.  I was so excited, because I HOPE you know that I enjoy encouraging other artists, and I LOVE to learn new techniques.

You can find the ecourse at The Little Bluebird Art by Amanda Hilburn 

She also has a facebook page and an etsy page: Little Bluebird Art by Amanda Hilburn.

I love my little churches and what a fun, easy and quick design to paint for someone special!

Then I am bringing a serendipity moment from another week to this post, because it really did make me happy.

A fb friend, from South Africa, and now a US Citizen in California sent me pictures of how she used one of my patterns in her Bible School.  I was absolutely thrilled!  It was the first pattern she ever bought, which, in and of itself, is quite humbling, since she is a beautifully awesome artist!  She shared them with me and I am sharing them with you.

In today’s world, with all the evil that encompasses us, to still find people working so diligently to help TEACH our children Christian values, even thru art, gives me great hope.  To humbly think, that something I did, helped to spark an idea to share.  This encourages me.

I know, many of you think I am a fanatic, but I can honestly say, I don’t care and I WISH it were true…but when I draw something, I ask God’s guidance to steer me in the right direction…to guide my thoughts, my pencil, my brush, my words…to INSPIRE happiness and goodness and joy!  I ask that I can be used in some way with the gifts that I am willing, at the moment, to use for HIS GLORY…

I am trying to live my life, willing to be SANDED smoothly, to offer what I have to a world filled with hate, pettiness, selfishness, vanity, no self-control…

I am tired of sitting quietly by as others SLAM views that are different from theirs~~we ALL want to be tolerated, but show little tolerance for others…IT DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY!

To see unkind remarks breaks my heart!

To see unkind remarks by “Christians” makes my stomach ache!
To SAY unkind remarks makes me ashamed and saddens God!

We look at the sins of others, failing to see that WE are the sinners and that a sin is a sin. 

I am a sinner.

I have rough edges and I need sanding…did I tell you how much I dislike to SAND?!

Heavy sigh…

BUT I will continue to SAND my life so that God can be better pleased with my thoughts…my words…my actions…my heart…

Maybe ONE person will see my life and it will cause them to SEARCH the heart of God in ways to start SANDING their own life…

I am GRATEFUL for what I have and I continue to pray for needs that somehow, will be met, because He PROMISED that fear is not necessary and that ALL my needs will be met…I BELIEVE!

May you find moments of serendipity as you continue your journey of this roller-coaster ride called LIFE…~~I am simply blessed to create~charlotte♡

Serendipity Sunday

Ah, Serendipity Sunday!!  My favorite thing to write about!

I love looking for that one moment that is unexpected and just makes me feel so blessed.

Sweet Charcoal sitting at my feet...

I have found that I usually find more than one…funny how that happens, huh?!

Do you ever wonder if what you do makes a difference in the world?

Do you ever wonder why you even try…

Do you just want to throw up your hands and give up because you don’t think anyone is paying attention, and believe me, I get it!

Ah, don't they look sweet.  These two would NEVER get into any trouble!!

We are so busy trying to do our own thing, that we don’t take time to see what others are doing.  We want people to SEE what I DID, and HEAR what I say, and LOOK what I am doing, and HERE, take my idea and make it yours, oh, and look what I am eating at this fancy smansy restaurant…ROFL

We ALL do it, and NOBODY throws a better pity party than me...I even provide refreshments and decorations!!

Chester!!  What are you doing??

I had decided a few years ago, that I was ONLY going to do my own thing. No longer would I buy someone elses pattern or paint the work of someone else...Baby, it is gonna just be ME and ME!

Chester...WHAT did you do to my sign??

Oh, you silly, silly girl...You NEVER for one moment considered WHAT you would be missing...the lessons you would not learn, the JOY you would miss in sharing with others, the FUN in painting something that your friend designed...

I can STILL see you, even with your eyes covered...Don't look surprised...Charlie KNOWS you did it, TOO!

Well, I got over that really fast.  I have probably learned more in the last three years that I have in a long time.  It has felt so good, and NOW, I also have gotten to know the blissful feeling of having someone to paint something that I designed...I have found that it is I that has gotten the most out of this by seeing my vision through the eyes of someone else.  Again, it has taught me that WE have so much to offer each other, and TOGETHER, we are unstoppable!!

The other night, a friend shared one of my blog ideas with me on fb...I cannot begin to really TELL you how happy it made me, and this is not the first time!

This is one of the cutest things I have ever seen!!  Oh my...What an imagination...

To see those little lightening bugs appear on a cookie, moved the corners of my mouth all the way up to my eyeballs!

Little Cookies by Cheryl Jones....oh, so yummy, too!

BUT then, there was more.

I received a message telling me to get to the Postie on Friday...HEY, you don't have to tell me more than two or three or four times!! (cause I forget...)

I DID not hide your sign...quit telling people that...I was Asleep...See me guarding it for YOU?!

I also re-found a gift that another friend had sent me, that got brought into the house, and promptly, he-who-shall-remain-nameless, pushed it under the couch~~out of sight, out of mind!

I love my snowman sign from Crystal...it really does pay to be up early, sometimes.  Charcoal gave his lick and sniff of approval!

On top of all of this, my elves were all acting like BOYS...mischief and mayhem all around...

I KNOW, some think that I am only bragging, and YES, well, I AM...

It finally dawned on me that receiving the many gifts I get from friends, literally, all over the world, has never been because of something I have done...

Um, Chester, I don't think that is the kind of umbrella one puts in their drinks...Another goodie from Cheryl

OH, NO...it is BECAUSE of WHO these people are...They are kind, thoughtful, loving, generous, talented and WELL, I am honored to call them friends...

So, Today, I thank Cheryl of Under the Lemon Tree and Crystal of Backwoods Artists.  You both have brought me more "warm fuzzies" than you will ever know.  Thank you, for well, being YOU!

Cheryl never forgets Charcoal, either...She is a good Auntie...

Please, everybody, go SUPPORT YOUR FRIENDS...buy their products...buy their patterns...give them encouragement...Love them...share them...it is NOT about any of us, individually, but about us collectively...we NEED each other.

AND, by all means, ALWAYS pay it Forward and BLOOM!

I LOVE my new sign made by Cheryl and the awesome jar and candy!!

I am simply blessed to create...and I am blessed to feel the love of so many of you...THANK YOU, Thank you, Thank you~~charlotte♡